By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

The Spencer softball team won its Cloverbelt Conference East Division opener, blowing past Greenwood 12-2 on Tuesday.

Tiffany Meinders earned the win on the mound, striking out eight and scattering six hits. She also had a single, a double, and four RBIs at the plate.

Sadie Mercier had three hits and two RBIs, Cinnamin Harwood had two hits and three RBIs, and Katie Fleischman had a pair of RBIs as well for the Rockets. Fleischman also threw out a Greenwood runner at home plate from the outfield to end the game.

“We kept the bats going tonight,” Spencer coach Jason Gorst said. “I really liked the way our girls were seeing the ball at the plate. Striking out just four times against that quality of a pitcher is pretty good. Katie Fleischman is really locked in right now. I really appreciate her approach to the game.”

Spencer won its first game of the season and ended a four-game losing streak with a 15-1 rout of Chequamegon on Monday in nonconference action.

Meinders earned the win, allowing just four hits and one run over five innings while striking out seven. She also had three hits and six RBIs for Spencer.

“It felt good to pick up a win tonight,” Gorst said. “We were able to jump out on them early in the game, and we just built off of that hot start. Tiff threw another good game, and our defense was very solid. Getting 17 hits off of a pretty good pitcher is pretty tough, but we have to find a way to limit our strikeouts as we had 13 in a five-inning game.”

Mercier went 4-for-4 and scored three times, Fleischman and Meinders each had three hits, and Courtney Buss and Harwood both had a pair of RBIs in the win for the Rockets.

Spencer plays at Colby on Friday.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Rockets 12, Indians 2

Spencer 220 323 – 12 12 1

Greenwood 000 002 – 2 6 1

WP: Tiffany Meinders. LP: Learman.

SO: Meinders 8; Learman (5 inn.) 3, Bogdonovich (1 inn.) 1. BB: Meinders 1; Learman 6, Bogdonovich 6.

Top hitters: S, Sadie Mercier 3×4, 3 runs, 2 RBIs; Katie Fleischman 1×3, 2 RBIs; Cinnamin Harwood 2×3, 2B, 2 runs, 3 RBIs; Meinders 2×4, 4 RBIs; Lexi Baehr 2×3; Jenna Schober 2 runs; Aryiah Schuh 3 runs. G, Learman 3×3, HR, 2 RBIs.

Records: Spencer 2-4, 1-0 Cloverbelt East; Greenwood 4-3, 0-1 Cloverbelt East.

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Rockets 15, Screaming Eagles 1

Spencer 546 00 – 15 17 2

Chequamegon 010 00 – 1 4 1

WP: Tiffany Meinders. LP: Dane.

SO: Meinders 7; Dane 13. BB: Meinders 0; Dane 4.

Top hitters: S, Sadie Mercier 4×4, 3 runs, 2 SBs; Katie Fleischman 3×3, 2B, 3 runs; Cinnamin Harwood 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Meinders 3×4, 2 2Bs, 6 RBIs; Courtney Buss 2×4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Jenna Schober 2×4, 3B, RBI. PF, Borne HR, RBI.

Records: Spencer 1-4; Chequamegon 4-2.